book of australia part 2

7/30/2019 Book of Australia part 2

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UNIT2READINGA

Constitutionalonarchy ithout ConstitutionChoose he correct answer.

iince wheir hdsQueenElizabeth bzen he ionarch of Britain?a. 1948ib-]1e52c.1960

$lich p{rrql do..sPrine Minister Tonj Blair belotrgLo?6)Labourb. Conservativec. LiberalDemocratst How lo g ca a British Prillla Minister remainn office?a. 4 years.

b. 5 years.fc)As long as he or she s re elected.+ \lay theQueenmtff theHouses JP4rlianent?a, Yes,oi course.b, No, under no citcumstances.it)She may not enter the House of commonst \\-hich oJ the follotring is the Queen'sLondotresidenct?6)Buckingham Palace6. westminster Palacec. Crystal Palace

6 {tt the elKtion, horysoondoes ht n(\| Pime]liniste/ oc.upl,/ is or het oIfi.e at 10 Do\rningSfteet?,/a.)Thenext day.b. Three days ater.c. One week later.Qu.en nizabeth I and Tony BLair

:. \\hy ore thffe two rea Uneson the loor oJ th.. Llouse t Comfio11sn Jront oJ uch fronl bench?a. They mark the exlent to which Members sitting in the front benchesmay strelch their^ lcgs wrlhouLsitting rmproperly' b,rThct mark the imit - a hltle mort than two swords' engths belond rl'hich a Member- may not approach he oppositebenchesc. They mark the limil - a little more than 6 feet - beyond which a Member may not spiton people sitting on the oppositeside.

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THE N1TEDINGDO\{

!l Read he follo$ing text with special attention to the words in bold16rrrain r . a (onsl i rul iunal monarchv'Dunhour d $rr l rrn con\ l i lul ion lhr-

strangesituatiorl is quite surPnsrngsrnceBritain is famous or being the oldeslconstilutional dcnocracy in the worid. andhas been a lrodel lor many other coun-tries al l over thc Slobe Yet the historicaLileveiopmenl in Britain has never creat{'donc sinsle legal document which is thehighcst iat oi the lald and describes hefundamental nstitutions oI the siate, h'irspheres lauthority and their reladonshipto one another as happencd n the USABrirish people olien reler to the constitution' but rhey mearl a variety of differentthings under rhe phrase Parl of the con-sritution are sveralActs of Parliamert(in evcryday language. they are simply, al led at ' ' .omc.-rr uhr 'h Jr ' c ' rrrrrr i ' '' old. somc arequite rccent Then lhere 'revarious'conventions', which are traditionally accpted les and proceduresithsehavc nevcr beenwritten do\\'n bularcha.edmu' .h un prc(edenl rhJl ' onhislorical rradition. Simc eithcr thc Acts

. nor rhe convcntions enjo,v any sPtciallegal protction (they are not lisLed ordescribedany_wheres 1art of d1econsli-tution'), Pirliament is free to changean-vaspectof th conslilution by a ne* Act.which tben becomcspart of thc corslrtu-tional tradilion. In mosl countries'poplernrr lJ hr s orr i ' J abnur u, h an rrrr ' r rJ ir)legal siLuation, but dre Bntisb rspectevnunwrilten tradition vry suongll'Ihe mosl important political Tnstitut ioni oI Bri tain xre the Crown. theuo\crnrt rcnlanJ I 'ar l iamcrrt he t r""nand the Government are usuall-vrepre-sentedby their he.rds: hc monarch (Kingor Quecn) al1d thc Primc Minister Threlalionship between these thre instilu-' lions is lhe result ola conplicaled historical devclopmentDuring the lTth centu_ry, Lhe inS and Parlixment esPeciall,vis

36

lowcr house, the llouse ol Commons -struggled for Polilical control oler thecountry. The end ol rhis ong slrugglewasthe Gtorious Revolution of 168S KingJams l came into a birtr conflict \\ ilhParliament. and Parliamenl evenluallyinvited Jamess daughter ancl successor.Mary, togctherwith her husband'Williantol Orange, from Hollatd, to replace theking. The nw monarch was lorced toJ! !Lpl f rr l icmtnis (ondit lonq in lb8o.Parl l l1 enr nrs5tLl the Bi l l ol Righls\\,hich limircd thc power of the Cro\r'nand increased$e aulhority ofParliamentThe monarchy$as maintained but pracli-cal political power wasplaced ully in.thchands of Parliamnl: it was establrsnecrthat membersof lhe Housc of Commonshave to be regularly rc elected and thatnet lan's and laxesmusl be apProvedbyParl iamenl swcl las(hemonarcbSo Parlia ent becarne the dominantlaw makingbody in the country butit t'asslill uncltar how day-ro-aay governtngshould be carried out. The kirg hadnl$r)s appoinledhri nwn ministers t l l (I rn \ \oLdmcani stn'ant ), anLl e ouLdchoose an,vbody he liked Howtver. itsoon becam clear that if the House olcommons did rot acccpt hcseministcrs,thev could not do thcir $'ork The bcslsolution was to choose inistcrs rom theparty which had thc majority oI membersin the House: thesepeopl cotld be cer-tain lhat theywould be approvedard sup-ported by th olhers. Thc chicl ministercame o be called the Prime Minis(er. anclhe chosc al l the olher inistcrs to workwith him. This is ho\'!'lhe Cabinct, thbody ot leading minislers, headcdby thePrim Minister. camc jnto bir1g' ThCabinet s whal rrrosl ]ritish people nearuh, n th, . lcrk rbuut rhr ( "{crnmcrrr-Since hen. the political systemhasdevclopcJ arr. l hans, l in \arrorr ' \ \ r \ ' rhc


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III\]IT /

dght to vote was xtended to all adultmen and women, new parties becamdominant, etc.) but the modem Britishgovernmentstill has the same undamental component parts: the Crown, Parlia-mentand the Cabinet-

! Complete the following sentences.The ffrst letters are provided to help you.l. The British c.CftbiLi1'kA(. is not one single written legal document: certain parts oi it are

contained in AC-t of PA.f{,rl"ur-uf.., but others are iust unwrirten c,.L)LiLaJ:L1. a'rld.p.rLLr-CLil/-L5...,ased n histodcal mdition.

2. The three most important British polirical institutions are rhe C.fO].r,.(...,Fnbolised by themcuo./.ct!, the GoLr{rdrL{.\tftheadedby the Pn"r.tl-..M ,t-r-.:h.r... nd Pr]-f,.ltuLtuLL.3. The basisof the modern systemof governmentwas aid down in the B.*{"L..of Ruql.r"f,a

passedn 1689..1.The body of leadingministerswithin the Gs:;rr-{.r.!i1.{.tisalled he C.c,bi,rqt.... trs mem-

bersareaibdihYed y the mcri.MLl.r*...n the adviceof rheP ',/JrL....M.\,]tjhif5. The C.oh,{r.& can only funcrion f it is appcc--rrd..nd s:r.{Trr:trl by rhe majority of rhe

H.qLLiL... of C.a|rsLr!L9.. .6. The astBritishking who was orced o escaperomthe rhronewas-Iru-cer./i.....n 1688.This

evenr s called he Gl:::r*':,......... Rr{toLitLal... by the British.I Match the definitions with the words given and then insert them in the appropriate forminto the sentences elow.

acco plish . oppoint. approte . m/J,int/j'itr. upport. stl:ltgglel. t!"l,llu+baL,t-.:cause omething o continue, eepsomethingn existence2. -n.k-q{L......: ighr oror againsromebodyr somerhingu.l "3. ..a14;c;,i1......: hoose omebodyor a ob or a position4. .nf.J::t.tl:Y-......:ay,showor feel hat somebody r somethings goodor sarisfactoryt. ..51+ffr.;.......:help somebody r something y slrnpathy,actionor money6. 9JL0.."LtptJ,:J4,:ornplete omething successfully7. The boss cJ.p..*fLJ.. him to the post becausehe wotked hard and showed ability.8. t he planned lralegvor lhe elerl ion ampaignwas .t+l: , , ,K-L.. . . .. .y the represenrarire..

?r1..


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9.10.I l .12..

THEUNITEDINGDO\IHe lost the election because he majority of the local population did not.:rrr.-1 ':5he-.,(.r.1.1... .1.ard against rr upPonentso win the nominationof thepartlIharc, . . . . : . . .ln order to 1rl,.1,1:.11.,,our popularity' you must saythat you have never seen hat wo

READINGBTheCrownI nead he fol lowing ext uith special-f hc monarlh) is Bntain ' oldecrsecularI rnsr i rut ion: he ongrnsol the unrtedEnglishkingdom go back to th tenth cen-tury. There vasusl one shortlived repub-lic in Bntish hisrory (1649-60) led byOliver Crom$'ell.The monarchy s heredi-tary which meals that rhe oldest malechild, or i{ rher are no sons, th oldestfemale child of th monarch succeeds1othe throne. There is one limitation, ho\\ever: n 1701 Parliamnt orbadethe suc-cessionof any heir r,r'ho s not Protestant.The reigning monarch, Quen ElizabethII , is from the House of Windsor and shecame o the throne in 1952.Shehas manyrsidences n the country, but th t*'omost famous onesar BuckinghamPalacein London and windsor Castle inBerkshire.west ofLondon, which gave heroyal lanrily ls presentnamc.'fhe position of the monarch in modemBritain is conlradictory: there is a huiediflerencebt\r'en egal heoryand polili-ca1practic. n theory, lhe monarch hasenormouspowers:she s the headc)lslale,hcad ofthe excutive(that is, the governrnen() , the judic iary, the Church olEngland and commander-in-chief oI thearmed forces. when Queen Elizabethopns Par l iament every autumn, shcmakes a spcech about what 'hcr govem-ment'wants ro do in the follo*ing year..lnrheory.she could appoinr an)-body o any

attention to the words in bold.of rh Cabinet positionsi there is no la$which would tie her hands.Shesummonsand dissolvesParliament:and no legisla-tion passed y Parliamentcan become a\\'until she has signed it. Thousands ofthings in Bntain, from the govctnnent torvarships,have 'Her Majestys' (in short.HM) in their name: heortically, hey areail'owned' by the nonarch. When some-body is accusedof a crime at courL inBr i tain, he or shc is accusedby' lheCrorrn', because he monarch embodiesthe arrthorityof the aw.

The practiceof everydaypolitics, holvever. is ver) dilfcrenl. Since 1689. themonarch'sporvershave beenvery stricllylimited by a constlutional Lheory \''hich ssummariscd by th well known sloganthar !he monarchreignsbut doesnotmle'.This means thal the monarch exerciss

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UNIT

!L ' i : ' l rJ lm.sr al l her ln\!rL! .n Ih(_Jd\rcc dt lhePrimeMi ster', hat is, the Frime Ministerlellsherwhal lo do.lt is he Prime 4inister*,ho tells \{hen I'arliamentshould be clissolved,who shouldbe appoilted for positLUn


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THE NITEDINGDOMI The following words are all in some way connected to tbe monarch and royalty. Mathcm $ i th the def in ir ions ircn helo$.

commotcler-in-chitf heir . peerag. preknAer .ptirrce. reign . sorereigll. stcaessionthe personwho has the legal righr ro inherir property(e.9. he throne,a tit le,erc.)a high rank of nobility given by rhe monarchthe processof inheriting the thronethe highestofficer ot a narion'sarmya personwith a disputedright to the throneanother narne or the monarcha male member of the monarch's amilythe period during which a monarch rules

READING C

z.3.L5.6.7.8.

WestminsterI Read he following text wirh special- fh popular namr of rhr Brin,hI Parlramrnrq Wsrminsrr '. in(e itis housed in lh Palaceof Westmiftter.The B tish Parl iament is bicameral,which means har r consisrsoflwo'hous,es': thc House of Commons and theHous of Lords. They are nol equallyimportan!: rhe House of Commons,although it is rhe lower house.has muchmore power than the Lords, because heindepeodent authoriq'of the Lords hasbeen seriously limired during rhe 20th

Wher Brir ish people speak about'Parl iament, theyusual lymean heHouseof Comrnons.For electoralpurpossrheUnitccl kingdom is difided jnlo specialdislricts, which arecalled constituencies.Currenrly lhere are 659 consrituncies,each o{ which eiects one Member of

attention to the words in bold.Parliament. in short an MP, to representthat area n the Houseol Commons. Mpsare elected for a maximum termt thermay be no more than five yearsbetweentwo parliamentaryeleclionsbut the gov-errunent rnay call lbr a generalelecrionaran) time during its live-year rm.The shape of the Commons debaringchamber is dilferenr from most Europeanlegislativechambers:i doesnol look likea slice olpie - which suggestshepresenceofseveralpolitical partles rom lelr ro righrbut it is a long hall with five rorvs ofbenches n eachside.Ar rhe far end, thereis the Speaker's hair;the Speakrpresideso|er the Colnmons. The mernbersol themajority partl who suppor rhe gol.Ir1-nent sil on the Speaker'sighr, and on rheother side sir those who opposerhe gov-emment The front bencheson borh sides

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UNITare reseFd lor members of the Cabinetand for the leadersofthe Opposition, whoare called the 'Shadow Cabinet'. Behindthe Cabinet and the Sbadow Cabinet, inthe higherrowssit tboseMPs who havenoleading position in their own party; theseMPs are known as 'backbenchers'.TheSpeaker,who is chosen by the House, isrequired ro be absolutely impartialbetweenparliesand ndividual MPs.The upper house of Parliament. theHouse of Lords, has no electedmembersand no fixed numbers. lt is presidedoverby the Lord ChanceJlor, member of theCabinet. Until the recent reform, therewere more than a 1000 members whowereentitled to sit in the House oILords.and they belonged to three main categories-

l. Hetditary peers (dukes,marquises.ear ls. v iscounts and barons), whoinherited their titles (the so-calledpeerages) nd held their seatsby rightof succession. In 1999, there wereexactly 751 hereditary peers (mostlymen), bul only about halfofthem wereactively intersted in politics. Thosewho hold hereditary perageswill bsucceeded y thir heirs.2. Lil pers. who received peerages.with th right to sit in the House ofLords, {rom the Crown on the recom-mendation of the Prime Minister. Lifepeersare membersof the House onlyuntil they die, and their children cannot inherjt rheir title. Life peeragcshavebeengivensince 1958,and nowa-days he.e arabout f50-400lile peers.some of them women. Eminent politi-cians (including former Prime Ministers)areusually rewardedwith a li{e peerageand continue lo be active n the HouseofLords. A specialgroup among he ifepeersare the Law Lords, senior relircdJudges of England and wales. l\'hofunction as he highest court ofappealin Englandandwales.3. Thc Archbishops o{ CanterburyandYork. and 2 '+ most senior bishops of

rhe Church of England,who are mem-bers of the House of Lords only untillhey retire. They are called. using anold-fashioned phrase, the LordsSpiritual.

Unlil 19ll the Lords were able to rejectbills passed n the Commons. By the lale20th century, thy could only delay lhenactmnt of a bill by a few months, butthey rarely usd even this smail power.Reform of the House of Lords had longbeendiscussed y variouspolitical groups.and in November 1999 a fundamentalreform act waspassed,which removed heright ofbereditary peers o sitin the Lords,except for 92 \emporary' members whowere elecled rom among thm to stay on.This means hat traditional British aristocracy ceased o have any specialpower inthe Bntish Parliament.The Labour govm-ment promisesother relorm measures nthe near future, which would entirelytransform the role and character of theupper house.BigBen.he lock owcr { heHousesf?arliannr


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THE NITEDINGDOMParliament'smost impoItant function isro creat aws.A draft law is calleda.bill,.Th biil is debated in the House. thena parliamentary commiitee considerswherher amendments (rhal is, modilica_tions) should be made.E.r,enruallv.hc re_vised bill is considered n its linal lorrnandmembers ote.Voring n tie Commonsis carried out using a unique procdure

called 'division'. There are rwo corridors(so called lobbies) ourside rhe Housechamber on borh sides and Mps vore bywalking rhrough either the Aye, (yes)lobby or tbe'No' lobby. Onca bi l l hasbeen passedby borh houses, t is sent toth Queen for royal assenrafrerwhich itbecomes n Acr ofParliarnent.

P.Ill al,:*,1* conceprselong ither o rheHouse f Comrnonsr rheHouse frut them inlo the appropriate olumnbelow.Anglican rshop bachbencherhereditaryeerllk peer . La\\tLorcl Lord ChancellorMP . Sh/J.,ilo$dbnet SpeaherHouse of Commons House o{ Lords

B Answer the-questionsby adding the abbreviation of either the House of Commons (or the Housof Lords (HoL)_l. Which house ncludesformer prime Ministers?f I2. Which house s headedby an elected eaclert]. ]3. Which housedoesthe monarch dissolveevery .ewyears?4. Which house ncludes the majority of Cabinermembers?5. Which househas absent, emberswho almostneverattendsessions? I6. Which househasa fixednumberofmembersl

I l7. Which househasdominantpoliricalpo*"r? i _,


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UNITle lhe chart about the egislative rocess.

Houseof Lords1Thirdreadrng(final ote. alled ....,......)t. i . .r. .r.:1.1....tage(detai led iscussion f possible ]r.t . . .r. . i . .r. . . . .)tISecond reading(d:-l , l l l . i i , . inhe House)t_.t . .l l rst reaolng(the formal announcement)Irl] !i.g'jti&{',...tiii'

in your text.

- ..-.-.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-.-.:rgueovera problem n an off icialbody of people

irite a summary of exercise 4 in about 100 words. Use the equivalents of the following

majority decision- - . electoraldistdct.. .-.. . . . . .-.-.. . . . . . . . . . . . :he body of the eadingministers- , - - - :l noblemen with a title they received rom one of their ancestors-... . , . . . . ; . . i . . i i . . . . . . :arrandneutral, howingno prejudice r preferenceowards nybody

- - . r all the MPs who do not support the government. - .- ' . consisting ol two housesor chambers

--..-.. .-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .rdraft aw discussed y Parl iament' rhr. orm;l .rnnrnval I rhemonarch

noblemen with a title received rom the monarch for their lifetime


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IJNIT,the headsof their departments: their olficialtitle is Secretary of State,and everyday peo-ple usually mean them when speakingabout 'minisrers'. The minister in charg offinancial alfairs still has the archaic tide'Chancellorof the Exchequer'and he LordChancllorperformsmost of the functionsofa minister ofjustice, as well aspresidingover h HousofLorals.The other, narrower meaning of theword 'governmenf is the Cabinel, whicbconsists fthe Secretaieso{State, ogetherwith a few other snior ministers. abouttwenty peoplealtogether.They are siuingon the Speaker'sight in the front benchofthe House o[ Commons.The sizeand thecomposilion of the Cabinet is not fixed:anybody can be a rnemberwho has beenmvitedby the PrimeMinister.Since he most important departmenlscan be {ound along Whitehall. a roadrunninS from Tra{algar Square toParliament, the name is often used as asynonym for the government'.The ofticeof the Prime Minister can be found at l0Downing Street, a small sidestreetopening lromWhitehall. He or she ives on thetop floor with his or her lamily. but themeetingsofthe Cabinet are also held hereand the neighbour ing buildings are usedby other rninistersand th Cabinet staff.Ihr Pnme Vini ' ler ' \ r. idcnre: l0 Dowi IS \ rc. r

After a general election, the Queeninvites the leaderof the majority party toform a governmenr.Govemment ministeBalwayscome rom Parliament, nd most ofthem are MPs in the House of Commons;they all continue to represent the con-sriruencieswhich elected hem. The PnmeMinister has he exclusive ower to chooseall ministr and to dismiss any of them atany time (although appointmentsare for-mally made by the monarch). The Cabinetwork on the principl of collective respon-sibitity, which means tha! all minislers arerespomible or any governmentpolicy, nomatter whelher they have taken parl inmaking t. Thisalsomeans hatgovernmentmembers cannot criticise publicly anyaspectof governmentpolicy: if they do sotheymustresign.The Pdme Minister is th most powerfulpersoninBntain. Theoretically, e orshe isonly the firstamong hemonarch's ervanls(as he namesuggests), ut in practice hePrimeMinisterhas armorepower han anyother minister in rhe Cabinet,since he orshe is responsible for collecting the infor-mation from all the departrnens, makingmost of the linal decisions, making theappointments through rhe nonarch, and,as the leader o{ the majodty party, he or shehas he irrn support of the Commons.

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THE NITEDINGDOME True(T) or False F)?

1. Ministers have ower-ranking assistants alledsecretaries f state.f J2. Mini \ ler \ mu.t alwav'come rom the House f t o. lnon. . I3. The Chancellor of the Exchequer ulfils the same ole as a Minister of Finance n

Continental countries. E4. The Cabinet ncludes all Lheministers. !5. The Lord Chancellors thedeputyof the PrimeMinister n rhe Cabinet.I6. The Prime Minister has to be elected n a constituencv ike all MPs. I7. The PrimeMinister s appointed y the monarchafterhe or shehasbeennominated or

thepostby the ministers.I8. The popularnameof I0 DowningStreets Whitehall.I9. The decisionsof the Cabinet have to be acceptedand supported by all ministers. I10. The Prime Minister is the head of the majority party in the Co*-ons. I

E Define the task of the following members of rhe British Cabinet.l. Clianii:llor of the Exchequer2. Homeqecrelar\:J. I ord t hancellor4. For( iBn ecretary:. .5. )ecreur) o[ Defun(.e:6. PrrmeMini5ler :I Find a meaningful opposite of the following words from Reading D.l. junior2. appoint3. acceptan appointment4. modern5. individual (responsibiliry)6. minority


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READINGEElectionulesndPoliticalartiesI Read he fol lowing ext with specialalention lo the word< n bold.A ny Br i l r .h (rr izFncrn be nominared

-f1as a candidate for a sear n rhe Hous.of Commonsexcept or peersand ChurchofEngland clerglrnen, since rhy are rep-resented n the House of Lords. MPs donot have to live in their constiruencies,and less than half of the candidatesarelocal residenls. f an MP dies, resiqnshis,seat, r is madea peer, Tlilictffitheld to replace him. Candidatesdo norhave to be nominatd by any party: al lthey need to do is to deposit t500, whichthey get back if they receiveat leasr5% ofal l the votes. n practice,hoivever,candjdates without the support of a nationalparty havevery little chance.All Biti-sh citizensmay vote fthey arearleast eighteen yearsold and are nor mental-ly ill, not convictedprisonersor membersof the Houseof Lords. Voling is nor com-pulsory, usually about 75% of the elec-to]jllg !lM,q!! ?! q general election. lr ispossible o vot only at rhepolling starionPartyLabourConservative 30.6Liberal Democrats

apprqriate lo one'saddress.Elecrionsare. by bal lot rhar ' . bv-ecrenorc.The main rule o{ rhe lection is very\rmpte: he L'andidaten a !on5l iruenr)who gains most votes .i\.ill becom aMember of rhe Commons. The .i\.innerdoes not need to receive an absolute

major i l ) r lh.r l . . mtrre han50ootol rh.votes: as long as the number of votes ismore than rhrr oI any orher ,andidare(this is called a sirnple majority), he orrhe ha. uon the eleLlron.;ndwil l rcpre-\enr rhc $hole.on. l i ruencl. In rhi. f i rsr-past-the-posf system. ail rhe votes rharare castilbr other candidatesare'wasted'tr "m the pornro l vreu ol rhe ek'r rons.rnce he\do nol helpan1parr l candrdareto get into the Commons. Therefore,rheploportion of rhe national vore gainedbyonc prr ly rnd lheir numberol .ear. n rhcaommon. can hor.rgrear i .crepancies.Lefs take the 1997 elecrion results as arrexample:

UNIT

% of popular vote number of MPs 06of MPs4l. t 418 63.4

16530.6ther

The real osers n this systemare hesmallerparties who are considerably underrepre-snted in the Commons. ln other counrrieslike Hungary, this distortion is parrially bal-anced by a party list system, underivhichnational vots ar addedup and some of theparliamentary seatsare given to pa{ies inproporlion to their overall performance.Some orm of lhis systm, calledpropor-\tional representation,Las beendemanded

by smaller parties in Brirain for a long rime,bul neitherofrhe rwo major parris ike theidea since it would reduce their own powerrn tne Lommor!!Since the early nineteenth century.mostly two political parries have beencompeting ior power in Brirain: lhis iscalled a two-party sysrem. Since rhe1920s, tlrEse wo parries have been theConseF,'ativeParty (often called by their

47,


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THE NITEDNGDOMold nickname, he'Torics') and the LabourParty.The Conservativc Party is a righ!-ofcentre party. Ir slands for the tradjtionalsocialhierarchyand the idea ol economicfreedom the protection and develop-lnent ofthe fre market and free compti-tion , and dislikes re{orms (as its namesuggests). t has traditionally been sup-ported by the arislocracy, he Church ofEngland. business interests and thewealthy rniddJeclass. t emphasises heimportance ol law and order - a strongpolice force and lirm measuresagainslcrime , and the naintenance of strongarmedforces o protectBritish inrercsrs.AsiSnif icant number of Conservatives.called Eurosceptics, refuse furthr inte-grat ion ol Bdtain inro rh EuropeanUnion because they claim that Bntainwould be governed' rom Brussels.The Labour Party is a left-of-centrepa y. lt emphasises h importance ofsocial justice and wants to give betteropportunilies lo all mernbersof sociely.The rvorking classand lhe reform mindedmenbers olthe middleclasswere hc tndi-lional supportersof lhe parq,. Th partytraditionaly advocatedpublic ownershipol major industries,and nore govemmentinvolvement n the economy. ls political

profile changedconsiderably n the lggoswith the rise o[ 'New l-abour'. a youngergeneralionoI politicians ed by Tony Blair.the reform o[ the panl was made neces-sary by the dclin o{ hea\'f industry andth rsulting disappeamnce f the traditional working class.Labour was forced tochange rs image to attracr more middle-class oters.The power olthc largest radeunions, which had beenvery inlluential inthe party, was greally reduced.Toclay. heLabour Parlydoesnot want to nationalisecompanies rmise income axanymore, Italso supports ull participation n the EU.In 1997,altcr lS

''eaNo{Conservative ovemment. the Labour Party returned to

powr lith a sweepingvictory al the gcn-eral election.The third largest par(y is the LiberalDemocratic Party, which tries to attraclihe votes of the middle ground betweenLabour and ConseNative, but its supporlers are scatleredall ovcr the country,and the present electoral system gi\,esthem little chance.Other smaller parliesin thc Commons include lhe ScottishNational Party and its Welsh equivalent.Plaid Cymru, as well as the Protestant(Unionisl) and Catholic part ies ofNorthern Ireland. They usuallywin a fewsealsn theircounlries.

[_ Compare the two largest parties in the British parliament. The chart below is providednelp you.

48

Labour Party Conservative PaityspecrnrmEconomicSocial supportGeneral attitude to reformsPolitical emphasesAtritude towards the EU


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UNITComplete the sentencesusing words from Reading E.

Al l the voters n a countryor in an areaarecollect ively alled he e.-._.. ._.1... t . . . . .In order o become cL,lt : . : . . . . . . . r- .t the e.. . .- . . . . . . ,. . . .hen-......t.......f a polir ical arty s notnecessary, ul party c:lr.r..r.1,.:1.1.-,.ave a much better chance.Ihe placewherevotersshouldgo in order o vote s calJed p,. . ._._,. . ..fhe pieceofpaper on which votersmark rheirvore s calledb.t...,...-.:.........l t is collecrednb... . . . : : . . . . . . . .i . . : . r ; . . . . . . ln moderndemocracies,oterc oteanonymously, ithout tell ingorshowing anybody whom they havechosen.TheBrit ishelectoral ystems called : : . . . . -p..r. . . .....- . -p........., ecausehe c.-r. lr .r . : . r. : , . . t -i rhthe mostvoteswins, regardlessf the actual t . : . . . . . : .. . . . . r- .- . ..f thevotes; e or shedoesnotneedan ai. . .r . . . . . i . :. . .....t...r....:.:...o clefeathe others-The British electoral system helps the big parries,because r gives rhe smaller parties lirtlechance:hereforehere s a t. .. . r . - . .r . .- . . . .ystem n Britain.ln pairs or small groups, collect as rnuch information as you can about the Hungarian:toral system and compare it to the British. What are the differences and what aie theties? The following points of comparison are plovided to help you.

Britain proportional ntationHow many MPs areelecteddirectly?How many MPs areelected ndirectly(i.e. not personally)?How many ballot papersdo voters i l l in? -How rnany oundscanthe electionhave?What majority s requiredof the winning candidate?Do people vote for pa iesdirectly?Are there so-called'party lists'?Do votes cast on losingcandidates count at th;election in any way?

'[ irst-past-the-oosf

42


15/16

THE NITEDINGDOMEl On the basis of exercise 4, what advantagesand disadvantagescan you see in eacht"tnt Co-p.." lhem in a n essay [ aboul | 50-200 $ords.

@ Translate the following passage nto English.

ami stabil kormdnyzdstds politikai egyensulyt esz ehet6v

magyar valasztrisi endszer alapvet6enelt6r6 a britt6l Mig Nagy-Bdtannidbanmin'denals6hrizikpvisel6nek gy6ni jel6ltknt egyvlilasztlisikorzetbengydzel-met kell aratnia, ad'dlgMagyarorszagon sak a parlamenti kepviseldk kevesebbmint fele kerul a parla-"ntbi egyitti kot."ibol e ISO magyarparlamenti-helynagyob-bik felt azok k6z;tt a pdrtok kozott osztjiik el, akik orsziigosan z 6sszeseadott szava-zat egalebb5%-dtmegkaptrik.Ezek a panlok- megszerzett zavazataik renydban meg-haur;zott szdmrikepvis;ldt delegrllhatnaka parlamentbe.Ezeknek a n6vsordt egy rinpartlistrin e16remeghatitozzirk. E) a rendszer egyfel6l ariinyosabbd teszi a vdlasztist, hi-sr"n urok a rruuara-tok emvesznekkdrba,melyeketnem a gy6ztesjeloltreadtak e'

mfs-feldl viszont olyan kepvisel6ket uttat a parlamentbe,akiket szemelyszerint senki nemvalasztottmeg, 6s akik nem tatoznak szemlyi eleldss6ggel gyetlenkoEet vdlasztdinaksem.A brit viilasztrisiendszermellett gyakranmegemhtik.hogy kevesparLot uttat apar-lamentbe,s koziiliik is el6segitiegy eroskorman)?arl esegy ellenzekrpart kialakullislit'

?0


16/16

THE NITEDINGDO\I6 With thehelp ofyour summaiy! comparerhe British parliament to rhe Hungarian in pairs01 groups. The questionsbelow are provided to help you.How many housesdoes the tlungarian Parlianent have?Approximately how many membersdoes t haveJHow man)' partiesare represented n the Hungarian pailiamenr?Fiow long is

the normal term ol the Hungarian parliament?What does the charnber of the Hungarian parliannr look ljke? Where clo members of theCabinetsit? How is rhe chairmanof rheparliamenrelected? s rherea ShadowCabinet n theHungarian ParliamentJWhat is the legisiative process in th Hunllaian parlianent? How does the HungarianParliamentvote?After Parliamenthas passeda bill, what is required for it to becomeL\\,?fl Translate the following passagento English.

a5arorszdgmintegy 950 ven dr kinilys,igvolt. 1867ben, a kiegyez6s tin rulajdonkdppenalkotmdnyos irdlys:igjotr rre,ahol a politikai hatalmata kdrkarnarasI V I magFr orszdggyril6ssaz annak felel6smagyarkormdny gyakorolta, im a magyartdrvnyhozct s vegrehajr6 atalomnem voh reljesen zuverdn: krihigyek,a hadrigye{esaz ezek enntart.isiit zolg.ildpdnzrigyeker6naz osztrdkparlament6sFerencT6zsefis:isz:irdont6befolvrissalendelkezetr.Az eLs6magyarkc;zrdrsasitgorz L \.ildgh:iboruurrn, lgl8-ban ki:iltorr.ikki, de nem volrhossz( letri. 1920-rol 1946-igMagyarorsz.igsm6tkiriilysrigvoh, iim ekkor m:ir teljesenfuggetlen,6s uralkod6 helyen az dliamf6i haralmatHonhy Mik16skormdnyzdgyakoioha.1946dta Magyarorszag ozrdrsasdg. z egl?lirri kommunisradiktatfra osszeo;Lisautiin,1989 benMagl'arorszdgonsmdtkikinltortrika demokratikuskozr:irsas:igol.MagFrorszagjelenlegi ,llamfdje Mrdl Ferenckoztilrsasigieln6k: a parlarnentivrilaszLlsok tan o neve-zi ki a miniszterelnokot es a kormdny tagjait. s a parlamenrdhal elfogadorr orvdnyekcsakaz 6 aldiriisdval melkednek orvnyerdre. 990 6ta MagFrorszdgonmindig koaliiioskonn:inyok kormdnyoztak,arni azt elenri, hogy tobb p:irt alkortaa parlamenti-kormdnytobbsaget, s tobb perlbdl ,ilh az ellenzek s.

READINGD

-Fhe eu(r meanrng"t rhe name HerI Mrj (5t) s Goremmenr' j l1ordefinrLlanywhcre. n the widest sense, r includesall lhe pohticianswho havcbeenapporltedby the monarch o n'ork in one ol rhc gov-ernncnt departmenrs. Thcse people are

whirehallff Read he following text with specialattenlion to the words in bold.

usually called minrsrers.Their nunlber isnot lixed, but there are abour a hundredsuch persons n each govemment.severalofthem working in the sane deparimenl nunous leadingpositions.The most mportart minislers.however.arc those \'ho are+4

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